China Asks U.S. to Lift Sanctions on Arms Proliferators, Iran Traders

China is asking the Obama administration to lift sanctions on five Chinese state-run companies that were hit with U.S. sanctions in the past for arms sales and other illicit transfers to rogue states.

According to Obama administration officials, the request to lift sanctions on the five companies was made within the past two months by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce as part of preparations for an upcoming meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission of Commerce and Trade. The next commission meeting will be held in November or December.

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The company was also linked to a plot in 1996 to smuggle Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles to Los Angeles street gangs.

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The Chinese told U.S. officials that the sanctions on the five companies should be lifted as part of “requirements” from the fifth round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in July in Washington.

In reading about the arms trade and speaking with U.N. officials, I knew that the most notorious arms smugglers -- like Victor Bout -- were Russian or from former Soviet states. Typically, these people were best able to profit from corrupt officials and poor oversight of the vast arsenals that were left unattended when the USSR fell. But as I looked through U.N. stockpiles of captured weapons, the majority of Kalashnikovs were made in China.

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The Chinese link to Africa has existed since the 15th century, when an armada of massive junks is reputed to have followed the African coastline as far as modern-day Somalia, trading laquerware silk and ceramics for exotic spices, jewels and timber. For almost 600 years after this ambitious exploration, China turned inward, but today, the country's imprint can be found all over the African continent. Aided by central banks, government loans and Beijing's offers of massive infrastructure projects, Chinese oil companies have invested heavily in Guinea, Nigeria and Sudan, and resource-extraction companies are active across sub-Saharan Africa.